Happy Again
by Knight Fallout
Summary: M!SS/Danse. The two have a moment of reflection as they wait for a potential enemy to pass by. Probable spoilers inside, so be careful.


The only noise I could hear above my own breathing was the sound of my heart beating fast and hard. I had to remind myself that there was a vertibird not far away and that if we were spotted, we would be fired upon, and power armour could only do so much against an unrelenting minigun. I closed my eyes to try and calm myself, and I edged along the wall until I bumped into him.

Whenever my anger reached irrational levels, I'd sometimes wonder why I even bothered travelling with him anymore. Simply being seen with him was reason enough for the Brotherhood to attack me, and completely disregard everything I'd ever done for them. I'd made so many sacrifices, and yet I seemed happy to throw them all away, just so I could spend time with him. Right now, in my moment of fear, I wondered if it was worth it. Then he took hold of my hand, and I realised that I'd rather be dead than never be with him again.

I regulated my breathing, and opened my eyes so I could look at him, and I smiled softly. The whirring of blades grew further away, but we couldn't relax right away. We had to be sure that it wouldn't be coming back, which meant that we'd probably be stuck in this damn military checkpoint for at least half an hour.

I let out a sigh, and moved away from the wall, glancing out the hole in the wall where the door once stood. There was no sign of anything outside, so I went through a metal filing cabinet to see if I could find anything useful or valuable. It appeared that someone had already looted this place, and the only thing I found which could be of use was an old alarm clock, which I took apart and kept the springs from.

"Dexter, can I ask you a question?" he asked.

I nodded, but didn't look up from the alarm clock. "Of course, Danse."

"This may sound strange, but does the Brotherhood ever talk about me?"

I sighed again. "Maxson hasn't mentioned you since that day. People used to congratulate me for killing you, saying that I did the right thing. Haylen thanked me for convincing Maxson to let you live. That's been pretty much it. I only talk to people regarding business now. It's never been the same after then. I refuse to let it be."

"Do you regret joining the Brotherhood?" He walked over to me, and stood by my side and placed his hand on my shoulder.

"Not for one minute. I know that at the end of the day, I did what was right for the Commonwealth. But I have lost a lot of respect for them. How can they talk about loyalty, and then turn on you so easily after all you did?" I lifted my head up, looking straight ahead at the cabinet I was knelt in front of. "Every time I remember that, I'm surprised that I stayed with them. I'm glad that I did, but how could they ask me do to something like that?"

"Dexter?" he said, a hint of concern in his voice, and I realised that I was shouting.

I shook my head. "I'm getting worked up, I know. I've been trying to put the past behind me, and just let go. It's harder now with all the reminders of what I've done." I turned, and looked him in the eye. "Danse, do you think I'm a good person?"

He paused, and then sat down beside me, which was difficult to do in power armour. "You always do what you think is right, and you've got a pretty good judgement. But you know that I think you're an amazing person, so my opinion doesn't count for much."

"I value your opinion above anyone else's." I set the alarm clock to one side, and shifted so that I was facing him. "When I came out of the vault with my wife dead, my son stolen, and the world I knew in ruins, I never expected to be happy again. But with you, I'm happier than I ever was before. Thank you, for everything."

"I should be thanking you. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't even be alive right now." He leant forward so there was only an inch between our faces. "What did I ever to do deserve you?"

I ran my hand through his hair as he kissed me. He had his arms either side of me to support himself, and I arched my back to get as close to him as possible. I breathed in his familiar smell of oil and metal, and a small moan escaped me as he bit down gently on my lower lip.

We both froze at the sound of a gunshot, and we looked to the entrance. We separated and stood up, and I straightened out my armour chest plate. "Maybe we should set out. I think the vertibird is far enough away to not be a problem." I looked down at my Pip-Boy. "We should be able to reach the library and return to Daisy before nightfall."

"Affirmative, Sentinel," Danse said, grabbing his laser rifle from where he'd propped it up against the wall, and also handed me my laser rifle.

"Thank you, Paladin." I nodded, and we laughed at the strangeness of referring to each other by rank. It wasn't something we'd done since becoming friends. It felt like years since I stumbled across him and his team in a fight with feral ghouls, though it had only been six or seven months ago. So much had happened, and changed since I thawed out of the vault, but Danse had always been there for me. I smiled at him, knowing that I was the luckiest man alive.

* * *

 **Since getting Fallout 4, I have done nothing but play that, and everything I do must be related in some way to it. Including my fanfiction writings. I haven't really written in a while, so I'm just trying to get back into the swing of things.**

 **Danse is tied for being my favourite companion (his competition is Nick Valentine, by the way) and I just love him, so I thought my first Fallout 4 fanfiction I post should involve him. I don't know if this means I'll posting more, but in the mean time I hope you enjoy this, and thanks for reading.**


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